1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electrosurgical forceps and more particularly, to a jaw force control for use with an open bipolar and/or monopolar electrosurgical forceps for sealing, cutting, and/or coagulating tissue.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Electrosurgical forceps utilize both mechanical clamping action and electrical energy to affect hemostasis by heating the tissue and blood vessels to coagulate, cauterize, and/or seal tissue. Electrosurgical forceps may be open forceps for use during open surgical procedures or may be endoscopic forceps for remotely accessing organs through smaller, puncture-like incisions during minimally invasive surgical procedures.
Many surgical procedures require cutting or ligating blood vessels or vascular tissue. By utilizing an electrosurgical forceps, a surgeon can cauterize, coagulate/desiccate, and/or simply reduce or slow bleeding simply by controlling the intensity, frequency, and duration of the electrosurgical energy applied by the jaw members to tissue.
In order to effectively seal vessels (or tissue) at least one of two predominant mechanical parameters must be accurately controlled—the pressure applied to the tissue (vessel) and the gap distance between the electrodes—both of which are affected by the thickness of the tissue before, during, and after sealing. It can be difficult for surgeons to control the pressure between jaw members before and during energy application.